From: Sally Miller <derbymiller>
Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:44:45 -0500

Hi Maia, It was beginning to seem to me that many of the characters being listed were simply the main characters of various favorite books, not necessarily characters who determine the events in their stories simply by who they are. Your remarks help make that distinction and I think will lead to more useful listings. Thanks. All best, Sally Derby
----- Original Message ----- From: "Maia Cheli-Colando" <maiacheli at gmail.com> To: <ccbc-net at lists.education.wisc.edu> Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 12:20 AM Subject: [CCBC-Net] inhabiting and observing character


>I find I've been thinking of this month's topic in acting terms. There are
> at least two major modes in theater - one where you put upon the clothes,
> behaviors, mannerisms and the voices of a role, assembling your character
> from the outside in, but always slightly apart from it; and one where you
> begin from the inside, fusing the character against your own, and yours
> from
> it, and then build out. The flavor of approach carries into the acting
> moment, yielding different results.
>
> As I read the character names given onlist, I realized that I was grouping
> them into two similar categories. Some of the characters struck me as an
> assembly of colors, while of others, I can "taste" their minds. It
> wouldn't
> have occurred to me to list the color-assembly-characters as protagonists
> in
> character-driven stories... because as much as I may find them enchanting,
> I
> don't know *who* they are. I don't know them from the inside out, nor do
> they seem knowable. Contrast, for example, Max of the Wild Things with
> Emily of New Moon. One is an exterior vision; one is highly interior.
>
> I would have thought that a character-driven story might require a sort of
> consciousness, a knowability, to create enough agency to drive the book.
> Which doesn't mean that Max's character - behavior - doesn't move the Wild
> Things, and certainly, Mickey's character moves *In The Night Kitchen*...
> but. I see Max and Mickey through an exterior lens, so that that (or
> rather
> he, Sendak) is the mover of the story. The lens-maker is the driver, and
> you can taste his adult humor. In contrast, I see only Emily, not
> Montgomery. So Emily becomes the driver, for me.
>
> Now, how much of this is me (or any given reader) and my ability to
> identify
> with a character? And how much of it is the author's ability to identify
> with, immerse themselves within, a character? It is not as simple as
> perspective; many young adult novels speak in first person but they don't
> "sound full through" (think a body of water); the external lens is still
> present. I'd offer *True Believer* as another example of a
> character-driven
> novel; Jinny is particularly brilliant with immersive voice, I think.
> Something like Susan's *The Higher Power of Lucky* strikes me as utilizing
> both approaches simultaneously; I see Lucky from the inside and hear from
> the out.
>
> So, if I see a distinction between a novel driven by the character -- with
> that character as a nearly alive, mobile agent -- and a novel driven by
> the
> colors perceived of the character by an external Voice/Sight, then what
> would the latter sort of story type be? :) And, how possible is it to
> have
> a picture book that was character driven, using my first description?
> What
> might that look like?
>
> I just read this post to my very useful husband, who succintly summarized
> it
> as, "What is the difference between a character you inhabit and a
> character
> you observe?" -- and I add, is differentiating these two types relevant in
> defining a "character-driven" story?
>
> Maia
> _______________________________________________
> CCBC-Net mailing list
> CCBC-Net at lists.education.wisc.edu
> Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe...
> http://lists.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
>
Received on Sun 21 Jun 2009 05:44:45 PM CDT